The present invention is directed toward a cable and battery terminal cleaner and more particularly to such a device which is adapted to clean the terminals of a side post storage battery and the cable ends which are adapted to be attached to the battery terminals.
As is well known in the art, when an automotive storage battery is in use, corrosion and deposits tend to build up around the terminals thereof. This corrosion could build up very quickly and eventually will interfere with the operation of the battery. That is, power from the battery to the cable may become substantially reduced and quite often will eventually not pass at all.
Until recently, conventional automotive storage batteries had their terminals extending upwardly from the top of the battery. These terminals were normally made of lead or similar metal and were generally cylindrically or slightly conically shaped. The cables were attached to the terminals by clamp-like elements at the end of the cables which fit around the terminal and were then tightened.
When the battery posts and cables needed cleaning, the cables were removed from the posts and a wire brush which had been particularly designed for the purpose was used to clean the exterior cylindrical surface of the battery post and the internal cylindrical surface of the cable end. These devices which are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,838,958; 3,088,150 and 3,383,727 include radially inwardly extending wire bristles for cleaning the battery posts and outwardly extending wire bristles which are adapted to be drawn through the cable end for cleaning the internal cylindrical surface thereof.
In recent years, a new type of battery post has been introduced and apparently will eventually replace all of the older "post" type batteries. These newer batteries differ in two basic respects. Firstly, the terminals are mounted on the side of the battery rather than on the top thereof. Secondly and more importantly, the structure of the terminals is entirely different.
The battery side terminals are comprised essentially of a substantially flat annular surface having a washer-like appearance. The hole at the center of the terminal which extends into the battery has a screw thread thereon. The cable end has a similar washer-like appearance and includes a bolt passing through the opening at the center thereof. In most cases, the bolt is free to rotate but is axially immovable. The cable end is connected to the battery terminal by screwing the bolt into the opening in the middle of the terminal until the two flat annular surfaces of the cable end and the battery terminal are in tight contact.
While these side mounted terminals do not need cleaning as often as the conventional top mounted battery posts, they do frequently get dirty and need cleaning. They cannot, however, be cleaned with conventional battery post cleaners such as those described above. To the best of Applicant's knowledge, there has been one attempt to provide a tool for cleaning the new cable ends and side mounted battery terminals. This device is a cylindrically shaped block having a plurality of bristles extending axially from one end thereof in a substantially annular configuration.
This cleaning device is intended to be used by placing the ends of the wire bristles against the battery terminal and thereafter rotating the device. It is extremely ineffective, however, since there is no guide means of any nature for maintaining the cleaning device in axial alignment with the terminal. As a result, when the device is rotated, it frequently moves radially off of the terminal. Applicant is aware of no cleaning device which is simple in construction and use and which adequately cleans both the battery side terminal and the cable ends.